Early Development of a Jumping Flash PlayStation VR Game Was Cancelled

Okay, so here’s a little slice of the unexpected world of canceled video games—a topic I stumbled across while, honestly, just trying to find a good snack. Anyway, Shuhei Yoshida, you know him, right? If not, think former PlayStation honcho, the guy who lived and breathed video games. He dropped a little nugget about a VR take on Jumping Flash. Yep, that quirky 1995 game that makes you wonder, “Did I really spend hours jumping around as a robotic rabbit?”

This came up while he was chatting with VGC—one of those “hey, did you know” moments. Apparently, there was this whole phase where Sony was actually toying with the idea of dusting off old franchises for some VR magic. Like bringing the grandparent of all jumpy games into the VR age. Kind of wild, right? But just when the idea started rolling, it hit a wall. Yoshida didn’t spill the beans on who was making it or why it got axed, just mentioned some devs were itching to action it in a new VR gig. Ah, the things that could’ve been.

But hold your VR goggles, ’cause one blast-from-the-past game made it through. Fantavision 202X—what a name, huh? That flashy puzzle game from way back was given a new breath of VR life. Cosmo Machia worked their magic, and voila, it became a flagship for PlayStation VR2 in 2023. Even got a version on Steam if you’re curious.

Anyway, Yoshida, post-Sony life, still loves shouting from the rooftops about PlayStation VR2. He did have this moment of “Oops, my bad!” regarding the headset during some chat on Kinda Funny—fun times. But since then, he’s been all smiles, hyping up games like Synapse and Before Your Eyes. Caught him this summer at that game fest thing with nDreams. Reach is coming soon, and really, you should see his excitement. Almost feels like a proud parent on the first day of school.

And there it is, a peek into the could-have-beens of gaming, all veiled in that Yoshida charm—because, honestly, who else would make canceled games this interesting?